Oak Park reaches agreement with union

October 04, 2013|By Wes Venteicher, Chicago Tribune reporter

After three years of negotiations with the Village of Oak Park, 85 village employees have a contract.

The Village of Oak Park Board approved contracts giving 1.5 percent and 1 percent raises to two groups of workers whose members include cashiers, parking meter technicians. building inspectors and forestry staff, Oak Park Village Manager Cara Pavlicek said. The contracts, approved for two local units of the Service Employees International Union Local 73, also provide for merit bonuses of 1.25 percent and 1.5 percent.

"I am delighted that these three-year long negotiations are behind us," said Village President Anan Abu-Taleb, who was elected in April.

The contracts are awaiting final signatures after the village board and union members voted to approve them in September. Since negotiations started in 2010, the employees have transferred unions, orchestrated a two-day strike in 2012 and saw a new village president elected and a new village manager hired.

"It was a couple years in the making, and from what I hear from the members they're happy," union spokesman Adam Rosen said.

Rosen noted that the new agreement was aided by a change in village leadership.

"It definitely helped having someone that was willing to negotiate," he said.

The employees switched to the Service Employees International Union from two other unions, and remain in separate groups, according to village meeting documents. The larger group, which includes about 75 employees, will receive a 1.5 percent pay raise as part of an agreement that starts January 2013 and runs through December 2014. The contract makes them eligible for a 1.25 percent merit bump. The group's salaries range from about $30,000 to about $73,000, the documents state.

A smaller group, made up of 10 water and sewer employees from the Public Works Department, will receive a 1 percent raise and become eligible for a 1.5 percent merit bump. The group's contract runs from November 2012 through June 2015.

The two groups are among nine unions that represent Village of Oak Park employees, including police and firefighter unions and several public employee unions, Pavlicek said. A draft budget for 2014 shows the village employs the equivalent of about 383 full-time employees, not all of whom are union members.

One other Oak Park union, a branch of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, is working under an expired contract, the draft budget shows. Several agreements are set to expire at the end of 2013.

After voting to approve the Service Employees International Union contracts, Abu-Taleb encouraged employees to be friendly and helpful.

"You are the front line and you are the face of our village," he said.